FEROZEPUR: The arrest of the District Food and Supply Controller (DFSC) in Ferozepur on the charge of misappropriation of paddy worth Rs 7 crore may expose a bigger scam, say the police.
The interrogation of the accused is on.
Ferozepur DFSC Sukhdev Singh, in December, had unearthed the paddy scam and lodged a case against some traders. On January 9, seven other food supply officials were charged and, last evening, the CIA team picked up even Sukhdev from Chandigarh.
A local court has remanded him in the police custody for five days.
PUNGRAIN had allotted 2.03 lakh bags of paddy to Noor Rice Mill, Kasubegu village, Ferozepur, of which 1.91 lakh were found missing in December.
On Thursday, Ferozepur SP (D) H.S. Pannu led the interrogation of alleged kingpin Sukhdev.
The food and supply had helped the owners of Noor Rice Mill secure allotment of paddy in spite of no power connection.
The letter from the Punjab State Electricity Board regarding impending installation of the connection was found to be fake.
Even the rent deed of the land on which the Mill was raised was fake, say sources in the police.
The Mill did not have a boundary wall and it was made of mud.
Besides the DFSC, AFSO Rajesh Chander, inspectors Swaranjit Singh, Balwinder Kumar, Arvinder Nandn, Baljit Singh, office clerks Kabul Singh and Rajan, and Sat winder Singh, Inder Neel and Davinder Kaur of Noor Rice Mill are the accused.
The accusation is that they embezzled a huge amount of paddy from grain markets on the pretext of store it on record at Noor Rice Mill, says SSP S.P.S. Parmar.
Sukhdev has denied the charges and claimed to be “scapegoat”.
SOURCE-HT
